Editing Parallelism (grammar)

{{short description|Concept in grammar}}
In [[grammar]], '''parallelism''', also known as '''parallel structure''' or '''parallel construction''', is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or [[clause]]s that have the same grammatical structure.<ref>[[Gary Blake]] and [[Robert W. Bly]], ''The Elements of Technical Writing'', pg. 71. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan Publishers]], 1993. {{ISBN|0020130856}}</ref> The application of parallelism affects readability and may make texts easier to [[Information processing (psychology)|process]].<ref>For the point about processing, see Carlson, Katy. ''Parallelism and Prosody in the Processing of Ellipsis Sentences''. Routledge, 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lIJ7quEJl8gC&pg=PA4 pp. 4–6].</ref>

Parallelism may be accompanied by other figures of speech such as [[antithesis]], [[Anaphora (rhetoric)|anaphora]], [[asyndeton]], [[Climax (figure of speech)|climax]], [[epistrophe]], and [[symploce]].<ref name=examples>[http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/parallelism.htm "Rhetorical Figures in Sound: Parallelism"]. ''American Rhetoric''. [https://archive.today/20180115015214/http://www.americanrhetoric.com/figures/parallelism.htm Archived] from the original on 15 January 2018.</ref>

==Examples==
Compare the following examples:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Lacking parallelism !! Parallel
|-
| "She likes cooking, jogging, and ''to read''."
| "She likes cooking, jogging, and reading."

"She likes to cook, jog, and read."
|-
| "He likes ''to play baseball'' and running."
| "He likes playing baseball and running."

"He likes to play baseball and to run."
|-
| "The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and ''sprinted away''."
| "The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down the alley."
|}

All of the above examples are grammatically correct, even if they lack parallelism: "cooking", "jogging", and "to read" are all grammatically valid conclusions to "She likes", for instance. The first nonparallel example has a mix of [[gerund]]s and [[infinitive]]s. To make it parallel, the sentence can be rewritten with all gerunds or all infinitives. The second example pairs a gerund with a regular noun. Parallelism can be achieved by converting both terms to gerunds or to infinitives. The final phrase of the third example does not include a definite location, such as "across ''the yard''" or "over ''the fence''"; rewriting to add one completes the sentence's parallelism.

==In rhetoric==
{{see|Parallelism (rhetoric)}}
Parallelism is often used as a [[rhetorical device]]. Examples:

*"'''The inherent vice''' of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. '''The inherent virtue''' of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." — [[Winston Churchill]], House of Commons, 22 October 1945<ref>[https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/vice-of-capitalism/ "Vice of Capitalism"]. ''[[International Churchill Society]]''. Retrieved 15 January 2018.</ref> 

==See also==
*[[Foregrounding]]
*[[Prosody (linguistics)]]
*[[Repetition (rhetorical device)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100704180457/http://www.nipissingu.ca/English/HORNBOOK/faultpa.htm Faulty Parallelism], Nipissing University

[[Category:Grammar]]
[[Category:Rhetoric]]